Albums to watch

Hotspot

Pet Shop Boys

Hotspot

Fourteenth studio album from the English synthpop duo recorded in Berlin and produced by Stuart Price (Madonna, The Killers, New Order)

ADM rating[?]

7.4

Label
X2
UK Release date
24/01/2020
US Release date
24/01/2020
  1. 8.0 |   The Irish Times

    This is a poignant record that provides moments for darkened dance floors and private consideration
    Read Review

  2. 8.0 |   The Independent

    You sense this album is intended as an expression of hope for the future, rather than a fond look back
    Read Review

  3. 8.0 |   All Music

    Tennant and Lowe feel as confident and progressive as ever, honoring their signature sound while continuing to push it into the future
    Read Review

  4. 8.0 |   The Arts Desk

    If the Pet Shops Boys are evangelists for anything, it’s the power of cheap dance music
    Read Review

  5. 8.0 |   Clash

    Tennant and Lowe have lost none of their capacity for dancefloor exuberance but with this album they’ve perfected their journey of the last decade of connecting with their musical past while pointing a way towards the future
    Read Review

  6. 8.0 |   PopMatters

    Four decades in the music business is no small feat, and yet the Pet Shop Boys enter the new decade sounding just as current and catchy as the pop landscape they helped construct
    Read Review

  7. 8.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    Hotspot is just another jewel in the already-sizeable crown of Britain’s greatest ever pop band, and will only grow in power over time
    Read Review

  8. 8.0 |   NME

    Astutely observed social commentary in the form of absolute mega bangers
    Read Review

  9. 8.0 |   Evening Standard

    When they’re on form like this, there’s always room for more Pet Shop Boys
    Read Review

  10. 8.0 |   Slant Magazine

    If the world is burning, the album asserts, you might as well enjoy the bonfire
    Read Review

  11. 8.0 |   XS Noize

    Hotspot is classic Pet Shop Boys, mixing irony, dry wit, sublime pop tunes together with a dark heart grounded in reality
    Read Review

  12. 8.0 |   Long Live Vinyl

    Hotspot is one of the downright oddest albums Pet Shop Boys have ever made, and all the better for it
    Read Review

  13. 8.0 |   American Songwriter

    Good stuff all around from a band that makes it look easy by keeping true to what got it here in the first place
    Read Review

  14. 8.0 |   The Quietus

    Lowe and Tennant have always been romantics, ironic or otherwise. Hotspot retreats further into the domain of dreams – the worlds mutually created and sustained by couples both straight and gay – and in so doing backs away from the harsh reality Tenant and Lowe share with their countrymen
    Read Review

  15. 8.0 |   Q

    Tennant and Lowe still chime with the times. Print edition only

  16. 7.0 |   Sputnik Music (staff)

    For those who haven’t bothered with the pop veterans since their golden days, I encourage you to grab these last three albums and rediscover them
    Read Review

  17. 7.0 |   The Music

    Dreamland featuring Years & Years is radio-friendly pop magic and Wedding In Berlin is a bouncy celebration of marriage equality, leaving the Pet Shop Boys in a pretty fabulous spot as they enter their fifth decade
    Read Review

  18. 7.0 |   musicOMH

    There are still more than enough highlights on Hotspot to make the record worthwhile, and when they put their mind to it Tennant and Lowe’s wordsmithery is still as sharp as ever
    Read Review

  19. 7.0 |   Loud And Quiet

    With their first Greatest Hits tour on the horizon, you could forgive Pet Shop Boys for winding down – you could forgive them anything, really – but Hotspot shows a creative force that’s still curious, still with things to say
    Read Review

  20. 7.0 |   Exclaim

    Fans will find much to enjoy here, but Hotspot is best viewed as a victory lap
    Read Review

  21. 7.0 |   Gigwise

    A relevant comment on human emotion and current affairs
    Read Review

  22. 6.8 |   Paste Magazine

    The synth-pop duo ends their Stuart Price trilogy with mixed results
    Read Review

  23. 6.1 |   Pitchfork

    On their 14th studio album, the best-selling duo in UK pop dampen the euphoria; the result is a tuneful, wan album that lands somewhere in the middle of their rich catalogue
    Read Review

  24. 6.0 |   The FT

    The UK synth duo’s third Berlin album has elements of techno and 1980s pop pastiche
    Read Review

  25. 6.0 |   The Observer

    At its heart is yearning – for the migrant’s safe haven, for a dancefloor utopia and for Berlin’s Hansa studios, where Hotspot was produced by Stuart Price
    Read Review

  26. 6.0 |   Crack

    For all the bizarre choices and sidesteps made on Hotspot, Pet Shop Boys live up to their own adage of never being boring. For a legacy act entering its fourth decade of existence, what more could you possibly want?
    Read Review


blog comments powered by Disqus

Watch it

Roll over video for more options

Hear it

Latest Reviews

More reviews